Too early to lift the lockdown but when time comes retailers must follow BRC guidance

The British Retail Consortium has given its members the tools to handle shops reopening after consulting with unions and businesses, writes James Moore

Social distancing will continue even after shutters are lifted (PA)

It’s a shock when Boris “contain your impatience” Johnson emerges as a voice of reason in any debate, let alone one as important as when to open the economy.

What Johnson appears to recognise with that statement is that it’s not a lot of good taking the plunge and freeing the economy if you then have to shut everything down a couple weeks later because people start dying again. Britain has already suffered far too many fatalities thanks to the decisions taken, or rather not taken, by his government.

So caution should be the watchword, but that also extends to the period after the doors are reopened. Enter the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The trade body has published guidance for its members on how to handle the next phase whenever public health experts adjudge that it is safe to enter it.

Its contribution is timely because even then social distancing will need to be maintained, and for some time. To that end, the BRC has worked with ”members and external stakeholders” to produce a document aimed at keeping staff and customers safe when non food retailers emerge blinking into the sunlight. Another has been produced aimed at warehouses.

The two missives, that called upon the experience of businesses open through the lockdown such as grocers, are described as “non exhaustive”. They are nonetheless commendably granular. For example, they go into issues such as in store cafes (keep them closed and out of bounds) and customer toilets (consider making them available on request but clean them thoroughly).

They look at how to respond to customers flouting the rules (support your staff) and new cases of Covid-19 among employees (make sure you communicate government advice, put signs up all over the place, and for goodness sake don’t have them coming into work if they get sick).

I’m obviously paraphrasing. And the “for goodness sake” was my addition. But that sort of messaging wouldn’t go amiss, particularly in the case warehouse managers. They haven’t excelled themselves when it comes to being progressive employers in recent years.

Another notable feature of the documents is that they bear the logo of USDAW, the shop workers union. The trade body consulted with it in drawing them up, and the fact that it did is laudable. It’s an example that other employers and employers groups ought to follow

There’s only one major flaw that I can see with what’s been produced here: These amount to guidelines only. They are not laws.

There were disturbing incidences of retailers not behaving as well as they might prior to the lockdown and issues have emerged with some since its imposition.

Unhappy staff have had to take to the media to highlight cases of mangers failing to effectively maintain social distancing, or ignoring the fact that Covid-19 can last a lot longer than 14 days, or playing fast and loose with the safety of staff and customers in other ways.

The problem is that if their numbers rise as shops start to reopen, they will ultimately damage not just themselves and not just their entire sector, but also an economy teetering on the edge of a cliff.

The documents give them the tools they need to handle the opening of their doors safely and to prevent a second shutdown. They’re available to non members too so there should be no excuses.